Current UK and European benchmarkstatements for both undergraduate and professional engineersidentify problem solving and creativity as essential capacities.They do not, however, offer guidance on how these skills might be fostered or assessed.Researchers have for many years explored how thedifferences between novices and experts might show educators’ techniques and strategies for improving problem solving skills in their students. They also suggest a number of capacities relating to creativity which might vary from professionals to novices.A number of semi-structured interviews have beenundertaken with engineering undergraduates at The Universityof Northampton, Loughborough University and BirminghamUniversity in order to explore these issues. The interviews withnovice undergraduates are further supported by interviewswith practicing professional engineers and engineeringacademics. Analysis has been in the form of aphenomenographic study.Early findings from the interviews have usefully been used toinform an action research project to develop a problem-basedlearning module to improve creative problem solving skills inundergraduate engineers. A number of emerging themes thathave been identified include: confusion with the concept of‘creativity’ in engineering; identification of processes in the case of professionals against products in the case of students; issues with motivation and ownership with regard to academic problems and significance being placed on real life activities as a way of teaching and learning creative problem solving